[Propworn]

14 four foot fluorescent fixtures in the hobby space/shop/garage. To many ballasts and too many 40 and 32 watt tubes. I go through quite a few each year.

There are LEDS that are plug and play swappable that work in the ballasted fixtures. You still have to power the ballast and replace them when they quit working. These plug and play tubes come in daylight 5000 to 6000 k but usually top out at 1800 to 2200 lumens not much better than regular fluorescents.

I went with ballast bypass LEDS I will need to bypass the ballast and rewire the hot and common wires in the cord direct to the ends of the fixture. One wire to the ends at one side and the other wire to the opposite side. The LEDS now run directly off 115 house current with no ballast. I left enough wire on the ballast so someone can use them as replacements when their regular fixture quits.

The LEDS are 5000K and 3000 lumens. A lot brighter than the standard daylight fluorescents.
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Pictures show a converted LED beside a regular 40 watt Daylight Fluorescent.

The second and third picture shows the old wiring and ballast.

The fourth fifth and sixth picture shows the ballast removed, the ground wire never disconnected and the hot and common from the cord running and connected to opposite ends of the fixture.

My place is a lot brighter and there is no humming from the non existent ballasts. Costs were less than 20 dollars for each fixture.

[Pauld]

Good deal. I did this as well.

Along with better light, the two biggest things I noticed was instant on and no noise. My old ballast fixtures were surprisingly noisy and some of the bulbs would flicker for a few minutes until they “warmed up”

Highly recommended upgrade!

PaulD

[stegl]

After something like 8 years ago when I installed new fluorescents in my workshop , the one set finally gave out. I replaced with the pop in leds and works great . Don’t notice any hum at all. If I remember correctly they were about 4200-4500k . Anything over that is too bright white for me but I guess everyone has their brightness preference.

[Propworn]

Originally Posted by stegl

After something like 8 years ago when I installed new fluorescents in my workshop , the one set finally gave out. I replaced with the pop in leds and works great . Don’t notice any hum at all. If I remember correctly they were about 4200-4500k . Anything over that is too bright white for me but I guess everyone has their brightness preference.

I thought about using the direct plug in or plug and play but my fixtures were a combination old and new ballast types and finding one LED tube that would work with all of them at the right color temp and brightness proved challenging.

I was surprised at the amount of heat given off by the old ballasts and tubes. Heat is waisted energy.

Im a long time tool maker and worked in my fair share of poorly lit shops so I opt for bright well lit personal hobby area. 5000 K most closely replicates daylight for acceptable color rendition. 3000 lumens is the strenght of the light and 14 fixtures in my two car garage is just about right for a shadowless work area.

A twenty watt LED tube uses more than 20 watts when run through a balast. By eliminating the ballast eliminates all that heat from the 14 ballasts and the 28 fluorescent tubes now the fixtures and LED tubes are barely warm to the touch. It should help a lot with the AC this summer.

You Tube

You Tube

[scaleguy]

Dennis,

Thanks for sharing. I'm going to seriously look into this!

[Thunder Chicken]

I have 8’ fixtures that all had bad ballasts. Direct wired now with LED tubes, I believe they are 5k, there was one ‘higher’ but it was ‘too white/blue’ for me. I believe each 8’ is around 60watts. Bonus is each fixture only needs one tube in it they are that bright.
The bulb is a 3500k led, I need to make one more dump find fixture!
Painting the ceiling made a huge difference. Took a few evenings to roll 3 coats but well worth it.

[CCA-Dave]

For anyone not converting from current fixtures, I filled my shop with these units from Princess Auto. Looks like they are discontinued, and thus now on-sale for $24/fixture:

https://www.princessauto.com/en/4-ft...t/PA0008652414

Just bought another five...just in case. They are excellent. I've got 5 years of daily use on them without a single issue or failure.

[Propworn]

Dave what is the temperature of the LEDS usually expressed in Kelvin or K. Since the fixture has a fixed LED array I take it that the 4500 lumens is for the whole fixture.

[CCA-Dave]

Originally Posted by Propworn

Dave what is the temperature of the LEDS usually expressed in Kelvin or K. Since the fixture has a fixed LED array I take it that the 4500 lumens is for the whole fixture.

I'll need to check if I still have a box kicking around, but I want to say 5,000K.

[Thunder Chicken]

Has anyone noticed any electrical ‘noise’ from LED’s? I’ve noticed that I can’t get a few radio stations clearly anymore, and with my big LED yard light on, the radio is all but useless (FM too, no AM here anymore)